But first, this:

I mentioned that I had some Chair Porn to post for you (because I know how much you love that stuff), as well as a new On My Hard Drive item, but first, I wanted to do this:

Last weekend we watched Fracture, with Sir Anthony Hopkins, et al.

The movie was pretty good - we enjoyed it. But for me, the movie was equally enjoyable just with the setting and cinematography. It was filmed in and around LA, and featured some very interesting and cool landmark spots, two of which I will tell you about here.

First item on the docket is the Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall. There are several scenes and several other shots of this building. Both inside and out. I'm sure you are familiar with this place, at least you are if you read here often at all.

As I noted there are several shots of this place - overhead long shot, 2 lobby scenes, and 2 scenes inside the hall itself. It's a pretty impressive place.

Then there is The Sherman Estate. This is a wonderful huge house built behind large fencing, shrubs, trees and hills. Here is the description from the film's producers:

The Crawford home was another architectural wonder located in the Encino area of the San Fernando Valley, where the company spent several weeks shooting at a private estate. "The house sits behind these big gates like a cement and glass bunker with a buttressing overhang," recalls Hoblit. "It must be 80% glass, supported by struts, but you can see from one end of the house all the way to the other, all the way through it, side to side, end to end, anywhere you go. It would be a little unnerving to live in a house like that, but fortunately it's pretty well-hidden."

The Sherman estate is protected on all sides by giant hedges, walls, gates, and a formidable hill that leads to a guest house and tennis court which perch high above the pool and backyard. It is also surrounded by a small orchard of orange trees, rose bushes, lavender and blooming flora. It has been used in films before, but has never been showcased to this extent.

Hoblit and Morgenthau particularly liked the reflections and double images that occurred when shooting through the house and its many layers of glass, a circumstance usually considered a mistake in traditional camera work. They frequently placed their cameras outside the house to film scenes going on inside, another rare occurrence for Hoblit, who calls himself a "stickler" when it comes to being close to the action, but in this case took advantage of his ability to use his cameras as the eyes of a voyeur.

Hoblit calls the house "camera-friendly" and says "it was just made to order; a real gift," while Morgenthau believes the opposite, but attests to how good the house looks on camera.

"It was very film-unfriendly, but it was worth every bit of effort and heartbreak and stepping on top of each other," the cinematographer says. "It was a classic, Schindler-influenced building, where the interiors and exteriors flowed from one to the other, but it was not easy," he laughs.

I have tried to find image references to this place online, as well as references to other films that have shown this house, but I could find nothing. The house has a decidedly oriental influence to it, somewhat like FLW's early prairie works. I guess you're just going to have to rent the movie and check it out for yourself. It's a bonus that the actual movie is enjoyable, and the bad guy also drives a Porsche Carrera GT. You car sluts might want to check that out as well. Corvette?? PPhshaaww... whatever.